


He Feels Like Home

by DawnDust



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Angst and Humor, David Rose Loves Patrick Brewer, Episode s07e03 Home Sweet Home, Epistolary, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, Jake (Schitt's Creek) - Freeform, M/M, NO ONE CHEATS obviously, They love each other too much for that, but through phone calls, does that count?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:21:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29144385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DawnDust/pseuds/DawnDust
Summary: Patrick's away at a conference for a whole week. He calls David every day, but a few days in, David seems to be too busy to make time for him. Patrick's going to find out why.
Relationships: Patrick Brewer/David Rose
Comments: 18
Kudos: 159
Collections: Schitt's Creek Season 7





	He Feels Like Home

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [SCSeason7](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/SCSeason7) collection. 



> **Prompt:** 7x03 Home Sweet Home
> 
> David surprises Patrick with a new library/office. Patrick has been away at conferences for a week and misses home and his husband. But every time Patrick calls to chat, David rushes him off the phone. Does he not miss him? When Patrick suggests leaving the conference early David very quickly and strongly opposes it. Patrick continues to grow concerned. Maybe he goes back early to surprise David or maybe he doesn't. The surprise and answers are waiting for him.
> 
> Shout out to [FrizzleNox](https://frizzlenox.tumblr.com/) for being a wonderful beta!
> 
>  **CONTENT WARNING:** Sexual harassment and mentions of cheating.
> 
> This is mostly told through a series of daily phone calls.

Day One 

“Phone sex?” 

“Wow.” Patrick tries to imbue that one word with as much disappointment as he can muster, but fails as he bursts out laughing.

“Don’t laugh at me! I’m being serious!” David squawks from the phone, but Patrick is too busy trying to control himself to reply. “Patrick!” 

Patrick finally stops laughing once he notices the strangers around him shooting him curious looks. “I’m sorry, David, but is that really how you’re going to greet me?” 

“Oh, are you finally done ridiculing me?” 

“I’m in public, David! I’m not going to-” Patrick lowers his voice to a whisper and continues, “I’m not going to have _phone sex_ with you right now!” 

“Well then, what was the point of even calling me?” David asks, grumpily. Patrick can picture him right now, sitting on their bed, crossing his arms and pouting. He loves him so much.

“I’ll tell you once you uncross your arms.” 

“Okay, seriously Patrick, that’s so _creepy_ , how the fuck do you do that?” 

“You’re just really predictable.” Patrick snickers at David’s high-pitched noise of protest, and then takes pity on him. “I have a couple minutes of free time and just wanted to check up on you and the store.” 

“We’re both doing great, thanks. So, when can we have phone sex?” David asks, plaintively. 

“Oh my gosh, David, you can wait one whole week!” 

“What else am I supposed to do to occupy my time?” 

“I don’t know, take up woodworking?” 

“As if! Ew.”

* * *

Day Two 

“Hi, David. I miss you!” Patrick really does. He knows that attending this conference will be really helpful for the store, but he hadn't realized how jarring it would be to be away from his husband for so long, especially since they spend most of their time together. 

“I miss you too.” David sounds a little too subdued. That wouldn’t do.

“Oh, am I getting a human greeting today?” 

“I’ll have you know that asking someone for phone sex is a _very_ human greeting, considering animals can’t use their phones.” David replies haughtily, some life back in his voice. “Speaking of…” 

“ _No_ , David, I’m still outside!” 

“Ugh! Next time, call me from your hotel bedroom!” 

“David, as I’ve said before, the conference events end at midnight. You’d be asleep by the time I got back.” 

“I could stay up,” David argues. “I stayed up until three last night watching all three of the Bridget Jones’s movies.” 

“Past experience suggests otherwise. Also, what time did you open the store today?” Patrick asks, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. 

David changes the subject. “That’s not pertinent to this conversation. How’s your weird business major conference going?” 

“The CFIB meetings are going so well! I’ve made a couple new friends, and more importantly, found out about some new grants the store qualifies for. Speaking of our store, what time did you open today, David?” 

Patrick doesn’t receive a response, which worries him. “David,” he says firmly, “Can you please answer my question?”

“I didn’t.” David replies in a small voice. “Stevie did it for me in exchange for working the motel desk. And also a couple bottles of wine.” 

Patrick’s brow creases. “What’s going on, sweetheart?” he asks gently. 

“I don’t know.” 

“Please talk to me.” 

“It’s just been weird, okay?” David sighs. “I went into the store yesterday and kept trying to catch your eye so we could judge our customers together, but you weren’t there. I love the store, but I felt so lonely the entire time.” 

“Patrick?” Patrick looks up at the sound of his name, to see James standing in front of him. “Sorry for interrupting you, but I wanted to let you know that the next event is about to start. You coming?” 

Patrick quickly weighs the pros and cons of missing this event, and decides that finishing this conversation with David is more important. He shakes his head and replies, “No, thanks for the reminder, but you can go on without me.” James nods at him and leaves. 

“Fuck, now I’m messing up your conference too,” David moans, having overheard the exchange. “I’m just gonna go.” 

“No! This is some boring tax thing that I already know, anyway. Please stay.” Patrick pauses, and is gratified when David stays on the line. “David, it’s not weird at all for you to feel lonely or miss me. We’re spending a whole week apart after spending most of every single day together, for the past few years. It’s been a jarring adjustment for me too.”

“Really?” 

Patrick confesses, “I saw someone wearing a denim suit and immediately turned to my left to see the look on your face, before remembering you weren’t here.” 

“Oh my god, a denim suit to a _business_ conference? Who do they think they are, Gwen Stefani?” David shudders. “I’m so sorry you witnessed that.” 

“Yeah, I was surprised, too. I don’t normally notice what people are wearing, but that was bad. Anyways, do you think you’ll be able to check on the store tomorrow to make sure Stevie didn’t cause too much chaos?” 

“Yeah, okay. I _guess_ I can,” David replies, back to his usual tone and attitude.

“Thank you for agreeing to do your job, David.” 

“One of us has to.”

Patrick protests, “Hey! I’m also working, technically!” 

“Please, I saw your Instagram story with the giant pizza. You looked _delighted_ to not have to share it with me.” 

“Oh fuck, did I forget to set that post to be viewable by everyone but you?” 

“Patrick!” 

“Would it make you feel better if I told you I’ve been stealing as much chocolate as possible for you? It’s the fancy stuff, too.” 

David prompts, “Go on…” 

* * *

Day Three 

“That only took you three tries.” Patrick says, aiming for teasing, but hitting put out, instead. He calls at the same time every day, so David doesn’t really have an excuse for not picking up. 

“I’m sorry! I lost track of time.” David says apologetically. “I’m working on a… project.”

Patrick tilts his head. “An art project?” 

“Of a sort.” 

“You’re being unnecessarily cryptic,” Patrick points out. “What are you trying to hide?” 

“Nothing!” David denies. Patrick hears a loud clattering noise in the background. “Fuck, I have to go.”

“Wait, David-”

“I love you, bye!” Patrick hears the dial tone. Well, that’s new. 

Patrick chalks up the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach to the large dinner he just had. David being busy is a good thing! Patrick’s glad that David is finding something to do and not wasting his time missing him. At the same time, it would have been nice to catch up with his husband. 

Patrick shakes his head and decides to move on. He can just text David later tonight. In the meantime, Patrick has a couple more seminars to look forward to. 

* * *

Day Four 

“Someone asked me about my wife today.”

“ _Wow_. What did you say?” 

“That my husband wouldn’t be very happy if he found out about her.” Patrick didn’t need to be snarky, but he’d overheard Richard making a homophobic joke earlier, so he kind of deserved it.

“I doubt they appreciated that.”

“I didn’t appreciate his assumptions,” Patrick retorts. 

“While you were putting people in their place, I got us a new vendor!” David says excitedly. “Guess who?” 

“Um… I don’t know? David, I thought we agreed to make vendor decisions together. Or, at least that I’d have some say?” 

“It’s Jake! I feel so dumb for not asking him earlier.” Jake. Huh. David continues, “Obviously, you do have a say. Do you want me to tell him that you don’t want him as a vendor?” 

Patrick sighs. “Well, it’s a little late for that now, isn’t it? I don’t have an issue with Jake as a vendor, but I’d appreciate being kept more in the loop in the future.”

“I’m sorry, Patrick. I just got really excited when I realized we could get a new one so close to us.”

“I’m surprised he agreed. Doesn’t Jake have his own woodshop? Why would he want to sell stuff with us and lose a cut of his profits?” Patrick asks suspiciously.

“He does have his own shop, but he said his smaller, more intricate pieces get overlooked for furniture.” David explains. “We’re going to stock some wooden carvings, like ships and birds.” 

“That’s cute.” Patrick says waspishly. 

David sighs. “Do you still not like him?” 

“What do you think David?” Patrick asks. Jake kissed his husband twice, in _front_ of him. Not that it would be better behind his back. But Patrick isn’t in the wrong for disliking a man like that. Granted, David was not his husband at that time, but Jake is still a pretty shitty person for randomly kissing people without their permission. And although his comments toward Patrick had seemed funny and flattering at first, Patrick has come to realize they were also pretty sleazy. 

“I know you were mad at him for kissing me, and I understand why. I did talk to him about it, and he said he’d stop, if that makes you feel any better.” 

“I just don’t see what you see in him.” This isn’t what Patrick wants to say. But what he wants to say is even more possessive and jealous and he knows David won’t appreciate that. 

“Patrick!” David exclaims. “I married you! Not him. Are you really going to argue with me over him, especially when he’s helping me so much with-” David cuts himself off. “Let’s just talk about something else.”

“No, finish what you were saying. What’s he helping you with?” 

“I said it doesn’t matter. Seriously, Patrick, do you have nothing else to talk about?” Patrick decides to drop the subject at the note of warning he hears in David’s voice. It would be better to talk about this in person instead of continuing to push at each other’s buttons until they both end up going to bed unhappy.

“I made another friend?” Patrick says, his voice going up at the end.

“Oh, good!” David latches onto the new topic of conversation, clearly eager to stop talking about Jake. “Tell me about them!”

“His name is Andy and he owns a sporting goods store.” 

“That’s perfect! You really need more sporty friends you can talk about baseball with instead of boring me with it.”

“Rude. You wouldn’t be bored if you learned all the rules!”

“I can assure you that I would be even more bored if I understood the rules. At least this way, I can still be somewhat entertained when they do unexpected things.” 

“Anyways, Andy hosts watch parties at his store and said they were really helpful for boosting customer engagement. We should do something like that at the Apothecary!” 

“Absolutely not. I already let you defile our store every month with those open mic nights, is that not enough?”

“David, c’mon.” 

“We don’t even have a TV!” David points out. “If you wanted increased community presence, we could do craft parties where people come in and learn how to make pottery from one of our vendors or something like that.”

“That’s...actually not a bad idea.” Patrick admits. 

“That wasn’t an idea, it was a scathing indictment of the entire sports community.” 

“Really, David?” 

* * *

Day Five 

“Patrick, I’m busy!” 

“Hello to you, too.” Patrick replies, a little hurt.

“I’m sorry, I’m just in the middle of something.” David shouts, over what sounds like… a drill?

“What are you _doing_?” Patrick asks, thoroughly befuddled. Last month, Patrick was working on renovating their living room, and David spent all his days at Stevie’s, because he couldn’t stand the noise or the dust getting into his clothes. So, Patrick can’t imagine a scenario in which David Rose is voluntarily within fifty feet of a drill.

“I’m _busy_!” 

“Doing _what_?”

“Ugh, Patrick! You’re being very distracting, and I’m not willing to lose a finger, so just give me a _minute_!” Patrick waits, and can just make out David speaking to someone, a male someone, before he’s put on mute. David never puts him on mute. What the fuck. 

“Okay, hello?” David says curtly, the drilling noise still faintly present in the background. 

“Who else is there?” 

“Oh my god, did you call to interrogate me?” David asks crossly. “It’s just Stevie.” Patrick doesn’t know what to say. He knows David’s lying, but doesn’t have enough information to call him out on it.

“Do you even miss me?” He asks, and then suppresses a wince. He didn’t mean to phrase it that way.

“ _Excuse_ me?” David replies, angrily. “Did you seriously just ask me that?” 

“You’ve barely answered any of my texts in the past few days, and rush me off the phone whenever I call you. What else am I supposed to think?” 

“So, I’m not allowed to have a life outside of you? If you leave, I’m supposed to spend every second moping, is that what this is?” 

Patrick changes tactics. “I never said you aren’t allowed to have a life. I’m just confused as to why you’re telling me you’re hanging out with Stevie, when I heard you talking to a man, right before you put me on mute.” Silence. “David?” 

“I was talking to Jake.” David mumbles. “I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d get annoyed, because you don’t like him.” Patrick blinks, and then takes his phone away from his ear to stare at it incredulously, even though he knows David can’t see him. 

“Let’s recap. You are well aware that I don’t like Jake, that I don’t _trust_ Jake, so you decide to hang out with him and _lie_ to me about it?” Patrick asks, voice getting louder as he talks. “What the _fuck_ , David?” Patrick is now well aware of the looks he’s getting, and musters just enough care to stomp into one of the bathrooms and lock himself in a stall, so that he can have a somewhat private fight with his husband. 

David replies, “You’re being dramatic and turning this into something it’s not.” Patrick scoffs in response. 

“You literally just lied to me, David, so excuse me if I’m mad about that!” 

“Because I knew you’d react like this! Do you not trust me?” 

Patrick shoots back, “Maybe I’d trust you more if you didn’t invite men over to our house just because I left for a week!” Fuck. He doesn’t mean that at all. 

“Wow.” David’s voice is flat and cold.

“David, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that.” 

“Mhmm. I think I’m done with this conversation. Bye, Patrick. Love you, even though you’re being a dick.” David hangs up before Patrick can say it back. Patrick lets out a long, frustrated sigh and is about to rest his head against the wall, before he remembers he’s in the bathroom and the wall is a toilet stall door. He unlocks the door, and heads out, ignoring the man washing his hands, who’s giving him an appraising look.

Patrick really didn’t mean to say that. Maybe someone less secure in their relationship would think their partner was cheating, if they were put in the same circumstances, but Patrick _knows_ David. David wouldn’t consider cheating in a million years, both because he’s a good person and because he knows what it's like to get cheated on tenfold. It really had just slipped out. 

Patrick has heard multiple times that words said in anger are things that a person subconsciously believes, but he thinks that’s bullshit. Sometimes people are angry, so they lash out and say something hurtful that they don’t mean, just because human brains are stupid. He shakes off his thoughts and takes a seat. Patrick ignores the concerning looks that James is sending him and gets out his notepad for the next seminar. He might as well get something out of today. 

* * *

Day Six 

David isn’t picking up. Patrick calls him multiple times, and in response, he gets a cursory text from David saying that he doesn’t want to talk. Patrick is frustrated. Maybe he shouldn’t have said what he said yesterday, but David is definitely also in the wrong. There is absolutely no reason for him to be so secretive instead of just telling Patrick what he is doing with Jake. 

Patrick decides to spend one of his last days at the conference having fun instead of worrying about David. He orders a couple shots, and sits at the bar, drinking with a couple of his friends. 

A somewhat familiar looking man comes up and sits next to Patrick. Patrick’s a little tipsy now, and can’t quite place him. 

“Patrick, right?” The man says, holding out a hand for him to shake. 

Patrick takes it and replies, “Yep! Sorry, I’ve met so many people here, I don’t recall your name.” 

“Oh, I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced yet. I’m Robert.” The man says, with an unsettling smile. 

* * *

“Patrick, I don’t understand why you’re calling when I already texted you and said I’m not ready to talk yet.” David says curtly. 

Patrick sniffles, “David?” 

David’s tone instantly changes from aloof to concerned. “Patrick? Sweetheart, are you okay?” 

“I just want to go home.” 

“What happened?” 

“I’m not having a good day.” Patrick sniffles again. “There was this asshole who wouldn’t take no for an answer and I had to cause a scene and I’m just. Really done with today.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that. Do you think you’re up to driving yourself home?” David asks gently. 

“I’m honestly still a bit tipsy, so I shouldn’t be behind the wheel of a car right now.” David doesn’t respond, but Patrick can hear the clacking of a phone keyboard. 

“I can pick you up, but Google Maps is saying your hotel is nine hours away. You’d probably be sober by then, and then if I did pick you up, we’d have to get your car towed. What do you think I should do, honey?”

Patrick holds back a fresh wave of tears. He’s been fighting with David, and his husband is still ready to drive nine _hours_ to get to him, just because he said he had a bad day. He doesn’t know how to express the heavy, complicated emotions stuck in his chest. 

“Patrick?” David asks carefully, “Would you like me to make a decision for you?” 

Patrick shakes his head before remembering that David can’t see him. “No. I think the most logical thing to do would be for us to wait it out, and then I can drive back home tomorrow morning.” 

“Okay, that’s logical and all, but is that what you want?” 

Patrick sobs. “No, what I want is to hug you, right this second, but that’s not possible. And you shouldn’t be away from the store for a whole day, just because I’m being a drama queen.” 

Patrick can almost hear David shaking his head. “Shut up, you’re not being a drama queen at all. Do you want to talk about what happened? That might make you feel better.”

Patrick rubs at his red eyes. He really, really doesn’t, but David’s right. “Could we FaceTime?” he blurts out, and then winces, remembering that David hates video chatting, after an incident with a certain ex. “I’m not in a public place, and I’m obviously not going to screen record you.” Patrick isn’t a fan of his husband seeing him crying, but he really needs to see David’s face and be assured that he’s loved. 

“Of course, baby.” David’s really going all out with the pet names today. God, how pathetic must Patrick sound for that? He picks up the incoming FaceTime, and is finally greeted with his favorite sight in the world.

David’s hair is still wet from the shower, and he looks very worried. His face hardens as he sees Patrick’s face. “ _Please_ tell me what happened and whose ass I need to kick.” David pauses, and adds, “If you’re up to it, obviously, there’s zero pressure.” 

Patrick lets out a wet laugh. “I don’t know, David, I’m feeling just a little bit pressured.” 

David’s eyes widen. He leans closer to the camera and reassures, “Sweetheart, no, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to-” He pauses and his eyes narrow. “How are you literally a crying mess and still fucking with me?” 

“It’s a gift,” Patrick replies, and wipes his eyes. “Kind of rude of you to call your husband a crying mess, though.” 

David screwed up his face. “It’s true, so.” Patrick hears a clinking noise he recognizes as David’s set of house keys as David sits himself down on their couch. 

He tilts his head, confused. “Where were you going?” 

“Nowhere, let’s get back to the topic at hand.”

“No, tell me.”

David sighs. “I was sitting in the car, ready to go pick you up from the hotel.” 

Patrick stares at him, incredulous. “David, it’s almost twelve. You would have been driving all night.”

“Okay, and? You called me crying, Patrick, what am I supposed to do if not panic? Now, tell me what’s going on.”

Patrick decides to table this conversation and ignore the warm feeling in his stomach that _would_ make him cry again if he thought too hard about it. “So, I’ve been having a shitty day, since we’ve been fighting.” David nods, face twitching, but otherwise gives no indication of his emotions. “So I went to the bar in between conferences, just to decompress and hang out with some friends, and this guy showed up. He seemed familiar, so I didn’t say anything when he joined us.” 

Patrick sniffs. “But then, he started flirting, and I didn’t realize it, because I was pretty tipsy.” Patrick stops and then rushes to get out, “I obviously didn’t flirt back! I wouldn’t do that.”

David holds up a hand and stops him before he can continue. “Patrick, just tell me what happened, and don’t worry about reassuring me.” 

Patrick nods. “He took me not declining his advances as a green light, and put his hand _very_ high up on my thigh. I obviously freaked out, and jumped up and asked him what the fuck he was doing.” 

“He started yelling at me, calling me a slut and asked why I was ‘being so frigid’ when my husband was probably cheating on me anyway.” David’s jaw is clenched so hard, that Patrick worries he’s going to break his teeth. 

“Patrick-” David tries to interrupt but Patrick barrels on, wanting to get everything out.

“I think he overheard my conversation with you in the bathroom, yesterday. At this point, I had gotten pretty drunk, and started crying.”

“I thought you said that you were tipsy.” 

Patrick’s face heats up. “He’d been buying me drinks for a while. Strong drinks, apparently.” David raises an eyebrow and Patrick shoves his face in his hands. “I _know_ , David, I feel really fucking stupid. But we’d all been buying each other drinks for the past week, so I didn’t think anything of it.”

“I’m not judging you, sweetheart. Please go on.” 

“Anyways, by that point, someone had called security and he was escorted out. I left and went back to my hotel room, shortly after, because I felt like shit and people wouldn’t stop giving me pitying looks. And then I called you.” Patrick adds, “It wasn’t even that big of a deal, so I don’t know why I’m acting like this.

David shakes his head forcefully. “ _No_ , Patrick, your emotions are completely valid. That was basically a-” He cuts himself off and takes a deep breath. “It was not okay. I’m very sorry and very angry that someone thought it was okay to touch you without your permission. Are you absolutely _sure_ I shouldn’t come and get you?” 

It’s Patrick’s turn to shake his head. “I’m fine, David. I mean, I’m not fine just yet, but I will be. Just talking to you is making me feel a lot better.” David still looks like he is about to march down to his car and drive for nine hours, so Patrick tries to distract him. And possibly himself.

“So, what’s new with you?” 10/10 conversation skills, Brewer.

David lets out a short laugh. “I don’t think that’s super important, right now.”

“No, really, I’d love a distraction.” 

“Um, Stevie, Ronnie, and Twyla came over a few hours ago, and we played card games?” 

“Four people doesn’t sound like an optimal gameplay scenario.” 

“It was not, but the only other people who weren’t busy were Jocelyn and Roland, and I wasn’t about to deal with them.” 

“You didn’t invite Jake,” Patrick says, not asking a question.

David doesn’t reply immediately. “You’re drunk,” He finally says. “I’m not having this conversation with you right now.” 

“But you didn’t invite him.”

“I did not.” 

“Are we still fighting?” 

David purses his lips and says. “Yes, but we’re taking a brief break from it.” 

Patrick giggles and says, “You can’t take a break from a fight!” Maybe David’s right and he is still drunk.

David continues, as if Patrick hasn’t spoken, “I _would_ like to have a conversation with you once you’re sober and back home, so we can resolve this issue. But for now, I just want to make sure you’re okay.” 

“I’m… a little sleepy, honestly?” Patrick doesn’t remember when his eyelids started becoming heavy, but now, he can barely keep them open.

“Okay, I’ll let you go to bed, then. Good night, Patrick.”

“No, wait.” Patrick feels stupid, but musters up the courage to ask, “Could you stay on? Just until I fall asleep?”

David gives him a soft smile. “Of course, honey.” 

Patrick plugs in his phone, and props it up so he can see David’s face. He turns off the lights and snuggles under the covers. 

“G’night, David. I love you.”

“Love you more,” is David’s soft reply.

* * *

Day Seven 

“It’s too fucking early for this, David,” Patrick says as he picks up the phone and slumps back into bed.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not super excited about being awake at seven, either. But someone had to make sure you got up in time for your next seminar.” Fuck. Patrick had somehow forgotten to set an alarm. “If you’re still going to it? You were talking about wanting to come home last night, so I wanted to check in and see what your plans were.” The events of last night come crashing back to him. Patrick quickly sits up, absolutely mortified. Did he really call David crying last night? No wonder he’s waking up so early to check up on him. 

This is the last day of the conference, and the events are only going to last for half the day. Patrick’s original plan had been to head out around three, and get home by midnight. He really doesn’t want to do that now. 

“I think I’ll just head home?” Patrick says, and then goes for a more confident answer. “I’m gonna head home. The rest of the conference is mostly fluff, and if I leave within the next hour, I can get back before it gets dark.”

“That sounds good to me. Maybe have some breakfast before you leave the hotel? And stop for lunch somewhere, and I’ll make dinner.” 

Patrick raises an eyebrow. “You’re going to _make_ dinner?”

“No, I’m obviously going to order in, but it’s the thought that counts!”

“Okay, David. See you soon.”

* * *

Patrick walks into the house and immediately barrels into David. 

“Um, hi,” he says awkwardly. Great. Now he can’t even talk like a normal person to his husband.

Patrick sees the corners of David’s eyes wrinkle. “Hi.” David steps forward, but then stops and asks, “May I hug you?” 

Patrick rolls his eyes and wraps his arms tightly around David. He breathes in, relaxing into the familiar, comfortable smell of David’s aftershave. “I missed you.” Patrick mumbles into his shoulder. 

“I missed you too, honey.” They hug for far longer than is probably appropriate, before David pulls back to look at Patrick. He telegraphs his movements, allowing Patrick to move away if he wants to, and gently kisses his forehead. Patrick’s eyes well up at that simple gesture. He can see David pretending to not notice.

“How was your drive back?” 

“Long. Tiring.”

“Okay, I got food from that Greek place you really like,” David says, putting an arm around Patrick and guiding him into their dining room. 

Patrick wrinkles his eyebrows. “Wait, that place is like an hour away.”

David shrugs. “I didn’t have much to do today.” Patrick _knows_ that isn’t true, because it’s Inventory Friday, but he lets it go. “I was thinking we could eat and then talk things out for a bit.” 

Patrick nods. “Sounds good to me.” 

They eat mostly in silence, making stilted conversation, but both of them feel the tension in the air weighing them down. Once they’re done, David motions Patrick towards their sofa

“So.” David looks at Patrick. “I wanted to start off by saying I did not cheat on you with Jake, or with anyone else,” He says, very matter-of-factly. Patrick winces, resisting the urge to cover his face.

“David, I promise I didn’t think that you did, it just slipped out because I was mad. I’m really sorry.” Patrick replies. “That said, I really didn’t appreciate you lying to me about hanging out with Jake. And I’m fully aware that I can’t control who your friends are and shouldn't, but I don’t like him, and I don’t like the thought of you alone with him.”

David sighs, and Patrick presses his lips together in annoyance. Why isn’t David taking his concerns seriously? 

“David-” 

“Okay look,” David interrupts, “I’m not friends with Jake, I was just trying to give you a surprise when you got back.” What?

“David, what-”

“Just come with me.” David grabs his hand and leads Patrick to his home office. Patrick stands in the doorway, open-mouthed. He barely recognizes his room. Everything has been repainted in a gorgeous, but understated cream orange. The old, creaky bookcase has been replaced with wooden wall to wall bookshelves. In the place of the rickety desk he’d grown quite close to is a beautiful, handmade mahogany desk with a matching chair. 

“Oh my god.” Patrick walks in and just stares, trying to take in all the little details. He’d been meaning to get his office renovated, but he just couldn’t find the time or the money. Wait. Where did David get the money for this?

“Where did you get the money for this?” David, who has almost been standing on the tip of his toes in anticipation of Patrick’s reaction, visibly deflates and gives Patrick a look. 

He crosses his arms and says, “Really? You’re not even going to tell me if you like it or not?” 

Patrick stops spinning around, trying to look at everything. “No, I love it, David! It’s perfect, thank you!” David preens, until Patrick says, “But where did you get the money?” 

“Patrick! Why can’t you just enjoy this!” Patrick crosses his arms and stares until David relents, “Fine, I’d been saving up for your birthday for the past couple of years, but then realized I could surprise you if you left for an entire week, and couldn’t wait any longer.”

“David.” Patrick can’t come up with the words to express how he’s feeling. That’s been happening a lot lately, in relation to David. On their wedding day, Patrick remembers thinking that this was it. This was the absolute maximum capacity of love he could feel for another human being. However, with each passing day, Patrick’s love for his husband just gets stronger.

“I love you so fucking much.” Patrick pulls his husband in for a kiss.

“Mm, I love you too. Do you see why I’ve been ‘hanging out’ with Jake now?” David asks. 

Patrick is conflicted. On one hand, he does understand that David’s intentions were good and he was trying not to ruin his surprise. On the other hand, he still doesn’t appreciate that he lied to him. But he gets it.

“I’d prefer if you didn’t lie to me again,” Patrick says. “I understand why you did, and I _love_ this office and can’t thank you enough for it, but it really, really stressed me out when you lied and made me worry about whether I could trust you. Seeing the look on David’s face, Patrick quickly adds, “Not about cheating! Never about cheating."

He grabs David’s hands and looks him in the eye. “I’m so fucking sorry I said something that implied that you’d do something like that. I regretted those words the second they left my mouth. I trust you _so_ much, David, the Jake thing just made me feel really insecure.”

David looks at the ceiling and tilts his head at Patrick. “I guess I understand that. I’m no stranger to insecurity when my partner’s around a beautiful man.” 

Patrick laughs, remembering the Ken fiasco. “So you’re saying you think Jake’s beautiful?” he teased lightly, testing if they could joke about this yet.

“I mean, we did date for like a week, so.” 

“Are you counting the time you were in a throuple with Stevie as part of that time frame?” 

“It wasn’t a throuple. Wait we’re getting off-topic here, we’re supposed to be talking things out because we were fighting."

“Are we still fighting? Because it sounds to me like you’re just trying to change the subject so we don’t talk about the time you were in a throuple.”

“I was never in a throuple! At least not with them!” David insists. “I think we’re done fighting. But I did want to ask you something.” He starts rubbing Patrick’s shoulders like he does when he’s trying to have a difficult conversation. Uh-oh.

“What is it?” Patrick asks, slightly stressed out. 

“Do you want to talk about that asshole at the conference? Or look into figuring out who he is and filing a report to make sure that there are consequences…” David trails off, so Patrick opens his mouth to speak, but David beats him to it. “Not that I’d judge you if you don’t want to! It’s completely your decision and you should do what makes you comfortable, but I just wanted you to know that I’m there for you if you need me, or if you need to talk, or-”

“David,” Patrick interrupts his ramblings. “I’m perfectly fine okay?” He looks at David, who gives him an uncertain nod. 

“Seriously, I’m good. I know I was a bit of a mess last night, but I was just a little shaken, and being drunk didn’t help me process those emotions at all.” Patrick laughs self-deprecatingly. “Anyways, this morning, before I left the conference, I called some higher-ups about the incident, and they assured me that they’d contact the authorities and take care of it. So you don’t have to worry.” 

“Okay,” David says. “That’s good, but I’ve had an unfortunate amount of experience with people who didn’t understand what the word ‘no’ meant, and I’m just...” He sighs. “I don’t know, I’m angry for you and worried about you.”

Patrick’s face tightens, remembering some of the awful things David had told him about his past relationships. He'd never had the support system that Patrick did, and had been left out to dry after having arguably much worse things happen to him. No wonder he’d been ready to drive out to get Patrick.

Patrick pulls David into him and hugs him as tightly as he can. “I swear I’ll talk to you if I feel the need to. For now, I’m fine.” He wishes he could somehow get rid of all the pain and anguish David had suffered. His husband deserves so much better than he has gotten, and Patrick would happily spend the rest of his life making sure he knew that. 

“Did you at least enjoy the conference?” David asks, once Patrick finally lets him go. 

“I loved it! I met lots of cool people, and learned some things that’ll help us with our goal of expanding Rose Apothecary.” 

David nods rapidly. “Mm-hmm, that sounds nice. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m so glad I married a business major. I think the Apothecary would have gone down in its first month if I hadn’t had your expertise.”

Patrick makes a disbelieving noise. “We weren’t married or even dating when you opened! And you have to give yourself a lot more credit than you are for how successful our business has been.

“Okay, but I would have felt bad if I kept using your business major skills without marrying you, so.” 

“David! I’m the one who asked you!” 

“And what about it?” 

“Stop being a little shit, that’s my job.” Patrick laughs and then stops as he remembers something. “David, guess what!”

“What?” 

“We aren’t fighting anymore.”

David gives Patrick a look that says that he thinks he’s being weird. “Okay, and?” 

“Guess what it’s time for?”

“Ugh, just spit it out, I don’t have all day.” 

“Well, I was going to say make-up sex, but since you’re so busy…” Patrick shrugs and starts slinking away until David grabs his arm. 

“On second thought, most of my plans can wait until tomorrow so,” David starts pulling a giggling Patrick back into the office room. “Come on, we have a new desk to christen!” 

“You’re utterly ridiculous.” 

“I have to practice my new wood-working skills,” David says, with an over-the-top wink. 

“That was almost Ted’s level of awful, David.” 

“You still love me.” 

Patrick smiles fondly. “I sure do.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was very cathartic to write, and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! I'm very new to this, so I would appreciate any feedback


End file.
